Moving in and moving on
by rayann
Summary: Luke's apartment becomes overcrowded and Lorelai comes up with a solution.
1. Just another day

Moving out and Moving on 

The bell jingles as Lorelai and Rory enter Luke's.

Lorelai calls "Good Morning Luke! Two of your biggest coffees please."

Luke turns around with the two cups, places them on the counter and fills them up.

"Muffins, or Danishes today?" he asks.

"Yes, please!" Lorelai says grinning.

Rory smiles at her mom than adds "Me too!"

Luke looks at them confused "You want both?"

They just look at Luke and smile. He shakes his head while grabbing the food. It never failed to amaze him how much these two could eat. At least it wasn't bacon, sausages, pancakes, and hashbrowns like usual.

"So what are you two up to today?" he asks Rory

"Mom, and I are going to help Lane decorate her room in her new apartment. She's living with two guys who only idea of decorating is putting Futurama figurines on the entertainment stand and taping swimsuit model pictures to the walls." She replies.

"Just like your apartment." Lorelai teases.

"Whatever, I don't even own any Futurama figurines." Luke turns back to Rory, "If you're going over there could you ask Lane if she would come in at 3:00 today instead of 5:00." He looks at Lorelai because he knew she had on her 'why?' expression and explains, "Liz called last night, her and TJ, or Gary, or whatever, found a place here in town. They can't move in until the beginning of next month, but they already gave up their old apartment, so they are gonna stay with me until then." He finishes with an exhausted sigh.

Lorelai shrugs, "It won't be that bad I guess, I mean you'll be in the diner all day, and then you can go back to you and Nicole's place at night." Lorelai always felt that when she talked about Nicole it was almost as if she was reminding Luke that he had moved. He never mentioned Litchfield, or Nicole, or their new apartment. Mind you, the whole relationship in general was almost too much to wrap one's head around.

Luke straightened up and looked at the cloth in his hand as he tossed it back and forth for a second. 'Tell her' the little voice in his head said.

"Nicole and I decided to finish filing for the divorce. No lawyers, no courts, just…finish it." He slowly put down the cloth and looks at Lorelai who is saying nothing.

Rory is the first to speak up, "I'm so sorry Luke, I really wanted you to be happy." The cell phone in her pocket goes off and she looks at Luke then her still silent mother and says, "I'll be outside." then she steps outside.

Luke looks at Lorelai "What, no 'I told you so'?"

Lorelai looks concerned, "Luke…I saw you guys fighting the other day, I didn't know it was that bad. There I was laying all my problems on you, when you had enough on your mind. Why didn't you tell me? Oh God, it wasn't because of the loan was it? Because you lent me so much money?" She reaches over and puts her hand on his arm, ready to beg forgiveness if that's what did it.

"No, I never even told her about the loan." He then shakes his head and let's out a little chuckle, "I guess because of stuff like that, is why we called it quits." He looks back at Lorelai, who is now giving him that concerned look that makes his stomach do a little flip-flop.

Rory comes back in the diner. "Lane's waiting for us, she says we only have two hours before the guys get back from work and she promised them she'd be done by then."

Lorelai smiles at Rory, "OK kiddo." She picks up the muffins and Danishes, pays, then says to Luke, "Call me later if you need a hand moving Liz's stuff or anything, I'm off work all day."

Luke nods at her and watches as she and Rory leave.


	2. Pain in the ass

Chapter 2 (Pain in the ass) 

2:30pm

Lorelai returns home after finishing help Lane set up her new room. She flips through the mail while listening to the messages on the machine.

Msg 1- Sookie: "Hey Lorelai, it's Sookie, I have a favor to ask. I'll try you at Luke's or call you later.

Msg 2 – Luke: "Um…Hi…You're probably still at Lane's, but I was wondering if I could take you up on your offer to help me this afternoon…oh, Sookie called here looking for you…uh...that's it…uh...bye.

Lorelai walked into the kitchen throwing the unexciting mail on the table and heading to the cupboards. She opens the first one, mallowmars, she had those for lunch yesterday. Next cupboard, microwave popcorn and beefaroni, that wasn't what she was after either. She walks to the fridge, left over pizza from 3 days ago and mystery food from "grab bag night" at Al's. She closes the fridge. Luke's it is.

Lorelai is walking down the street when she sees Sookie walking Davey. "Hey, wait up!" Sookie turns around waves and waits for Lorelai to catch up.

"Lorelai, I've been looking for you all day. I wanted to ask if you would baby-sit Davey for me tomorrow night? Jackson and me have tickets to the Litchfield Wine Festival tomorrow, and Davey can't come. I called Luke and he said you might be heading over to the diner around 3:00 so I was trying to catch you there."

Lorelai smiles at her "Sure I'll watch Davey tomorrow night! Rory's staying over at Lane's and he'll keep my company. We'll rent some classics and I'll start his pop culture education." Lorelai grabs her stomach, trying to suppress the growling, "I told Luke I would help him move his sister and her boyfriend into his apartment today. But first I need some food."

Sookie looks surprised, "His sister is moving in with him? For how long? I can't picture Luke with roommates, I can hardly even picture Luke with a sister!" she says giggling. "Well, I guess he did have Jess there for a while." She pauses as if remembering, "Brave man to try it again."

Lorelai smiles and nods in agreement. They round the corner towards Luke's. A large U-Haul is backed up to the front doors of the diner and you can see Luke angrily pacing out front as TJ and Liz grab boxes from the truck and take them inside.

"Hey Luke." Lorelai waves at him. " Wow!" she says looking into the truck, "That's a lot of stuff." She turns to Luke, who nods his head in exasperation.

Luke explains, "They couldn't find any storage places in town here and they have to have the truck back in Hartford by seven, so guess where all this stuff is going! In my apartment!" He looked like he was going to explode.

"Oh, hey Sookie." He says in a calmer voice after noticing her standing behind Lorelai. He glances into the stroller but the baby is bundled up and can't be seen.

Sookie smiles at him, "I would ask how you're doing, but I see you don't have time for chit-chat"

Inside the diner there is a loud crash and you can hear TJ holler out "Don't worry, I got it." Followed directly by Kirk saying, "No he doesn't!" and another crash. Luke's face turns a deep shade of purple. Lorelai couldn't stop herself from smiling. Then Luke's sister Liz came outside.

She notices Loreali, "Oh, hey. Nice to see you again." She points over her shoulder at Luke and says, "What did I tell you 'My Hero'." She walks over to Luke and kisses him on the cheek and links her arm into his. "He's helping his pain in the ass sister out of another jam again." She looks up at him adoringly.

Lorelai notices how Luke's face turns from deep purple to a cute shade of pink, as he looks down at his sister hanging on his arm. Sookie takes in the whole picture Luke, Liz, and Lorelai smiling at them. She smiles and shakes her head. 'Maybe someday Lorelai will figure out where she should be in this picture.'

Lorelai looks at Liz, "I'm just gonna grab a burger and refuel, then I'll come give you guys a hand." She said as she and Sookie started squeezing their way into the diner.

Luke hollers out, "Just tell Lane that I said your guys' lunch is on the house today. Rory's inside too, she already ate"

Lorelai turns back and gives Luke a big smile. "You are a sweetie, Luke"

He smirks, "You say that now, but I'm leaving the heavy boxes for you!"


	3. And Then There's Motrin Pain

Chapter 3 Motrin Pain 

"Lift it higher on the right!" Luke says while helping Lorelai maneuver a large dresser up the stairs to his apartment.

"My right or your right?"

"Your Right!"

Lorelai struggles a little more "Why do I always have to go up the stairs backwards?"

Luke sounds annoyed, "Because when you were on this end you said everything was too heavy."

Lorelai's eyes widen, "Everything was too heavy. Has nobody told your sister about inflatable furniture? It's the wave of the future, my friend."

Luke pushes a little harder, "This is the last piece and then we're done."

Lorelai speaks under her breath, "No wonder nobody likes to help their friends move, this sucks!"

After making it to the top of the stairs they push the dresser against the wall in the outside hall of the apartment. The apartment itself is packed with only a trail running from the door to the kitchen. Liz is inside trying to dig out the beds from under the stuff.

She emerges from the corner with a triumphant grin, "Well I found one of the beds, now I just gotta find the other one, and then make a trail to the bathroom and we'll be set." She says after digging out Jess's old bed.

Luke leans back against the wall. "I don't think I can live like this!" he closes his eyes, "Only two weeks. Only two weeks." he tries to reassure himself.

Lorelai elbows him playfully, "Come on Luke, I'll help you dig out your bed. I think it's over there under the pile of frozen food." She smiles knowing that Luke is going to snap any second.

"Why is there frozen food up here? I said drop it off in the freezers downstairs!" He says walking over to his bed.

TJ pipes in, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that stuff, we brought it up before you mentioned that. I'll run it down right now." He says getting up from the kitchen table.

"No rush now, it's already melted." Luke says picking up a ½ pail of ice cream and seeing it drip all over his bed. Upon closer investigation he notices that everything is melted and his bed is soaked with a variety of things. He quietly sets down the ice cream and says, "I'm going downstairs now." Then he turns and heads towards the stairs.

Liz shouts down after him, "Don't worry Bro, I'll have that cleaned up right away!"

Lorelai and Liz share an 'oops' glance and then Lorelai turns and follows Luke down the stairs and right out to the street.

Lorelai jogs to catch him, "Hey slow down cowboy! My backs a little stiff and I can't keep up." But Luke just keeps walking. "Well at least tell me where you're going so I can meet you there when I catch up!"

Luke points down the street, "I'm going to ask Jackson if I can borrow his cot, then I can sleep downstairs in the restaurant and not have to worry about the mess in my apartment."

Lorelai keeps shouting, "You can't sleep in the diner Luke, there has got to be some sort of health code violation against it!"

Luke stops walking and puts his hands in his pockets, as if trying to control himself from ripping someone apart. He takes a deep breath and looks at Lorelai. She is staring back at him with an amused look on her face. He knows she is dying to pick on him, but debating whether or not the timing is appropriate.

Finally she just says, "Why don't you come over to my place and I'll make you a cup of tea and you can try to come up with an airtight plan on how get away with murder." Suprisingly Luke lets out a short chuckle and runs his hands over his baseball cap.

He remains silent for a minute then says, "That sounds like a great idea."

Lorelai smiles back at him. "I've just got to run into the market and get some tea." She returns a minute later with the tea and places a small bottle into Luke's hand. He rolls it over- Motrin, he chuckles, "Thank-you" and they head off towards Lorelai's.


	4. Cookie on your Pillow?

Chapter 4 cookie on your pillow 

While making their way back to Lorelai's Luke comments, "Did you see the 2 etch-a-sketches I brought in? How many does the man need?"

Lorelai giggles, "I brought in one too! I hope there was nothing important on it 'cause I dropped it on the way upstairs. Now he'll have to start all over."

They continued laughing as they approached the driveway, but as soon as Luke saw the pathetic trail through the snow, which he figured was where the walkway was supposed to be, he threw his hands in the air and said, "Why can you not keep your damn walkway shoveled?!"

Lorelai defends herself, "Well, number one: you took the shovel, remember. Number two: it's not that bad as long as you step in the tracks already made. Although I will say that in high heels it can be a little tricky."

Luke looks at her with an exasperated scowl. She shrugs back at him, "Hey, just wanted to let you know before you try prowling my house in your pumps." She turns and starts trudging up to the door.

"Has it ever occurred to you to buy your OWN shovel?" He says, literally following in her footsteps.

Lorelai answers thoughtfully, "Actually it occurs to me every time I walk down this path, but by then I'm either in my house all warm and cozy, or I'm on my way out and probably to busy to remember to get a shovel. Then I return home again…vicious cycle really." She turns back to him with a smile and he just shakes his head.

"So what your saying is that if there happened to be a shovel store right beside your walkway, you would then buy a shovel and clean your walkway?" Luke asks.

Lorelai shrugs, "No, I would probably just flirt with the guy who owns the shovel store until he promised to clean it for me." With that they reach the door and go inside. After taking off their coats, Luke heads into the kitchen to find the kettle and Lorelai stops to check her messages.

MSG 1- Rory- "Hey mom, just wanted to let you know that I'm gonna crash at Lane's tonight. I figured you wouldn't mind because you said you had to go over resumes tonight anyway. If you come across any good ones set them aside and we'll mock them later. I'll call you later tonight, love you, bye."

MSG 2- Emily- "Lorelai, it's your mother I'm just calling to remind you that you promised to attend the Zoo Expansion Benefit on Wednesday and I need you to bring a date. If you can't find anyone I'll ask Jason if he'll go with you, as he seems almost as bad as you do, at finding someone on short notice. I am also glad to hear that your answering machine message is normal for a change. I will talk to you tomorrow."

Lorelai had crossed her arms somewhere in the middle of the conversation. She now uncrossed them and reached over to the message record button on the machine. "Stars Hollow Morgue, you stab 'em, we slab 'em." She records over the old message then goes to the kitchen to find Luke who is sitting at the table reading the Motrin bottle.

Lorelai- "Hey Luke, Rory's crashing at Lane's tonight, so if you want you could stay in her room tonight."

Luke- "No, I'll be fine. I'll talk to Jackson about that cot on my way back."

Lorelai- "I put fresh sheets on the bed this morning."

Luke- "No, really. Don't worry about it."

Lorelai- "You could help me go through resumes tonight."

Luke- "Oh, boy. No, really Lorelai it's fine."

Lorelai- "I'll put a cookie on your pillow?"

Luke- "Dirty!"

Lorelai- "Nice to see you're catching on!" she says giggling. "Come on Luke, there's no way your gonna get any rest tonight if you go back to your place, then you'll be sleepy tomorrow morning, and I have to get up early tomorrow which means I'll need coffee..."

Luke- "You always need coffee."

Lorelai- "…and you'll be to sleepy to have made coffee, and I'll get upset at you, and you'll get upset at me, and over time this hostility will grow until one day you cut me up and serve me for the Sunday special."

Luke rolls his eyes and looks over towards Rory's room, then back at Lorelai. "I'll have to go home and grab some things."

Lorelai- "Like your teddy bear and your toothbrush?"

Luke chuckles, then gets up and starts to leave.

Lorelai- "I thought you wanted tea?"

Luke- "I couldn't find your kettle." He says while doing up his boots.

Lorelai- "Oh. It's in the oven."

Luke- "Why is your kettle in the oven?"

Lorelai- "Because we never use it for anything."

Luke- "The kettle or the oven?"

Lorelai- "You know me well."

Luke nods as he zips up his jacket. "I'll bring back some burgers too." He opens the door to leave and looks out, "And maybe a shovel. See ya in a bit."

Lorelai- "No rush, it'll give me time to actually put fresh sheets on the bed."

Luke looks up at the sky in a quick silent prayer and then heads back to the Diner.


	5. One More Thing on the List

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of these characters

Lorelai is sitting at the kitchen table going over financials for the inn, when she hears a knock at the door. She gets up to answer it and stubs her toe on the end table. "Ow, ow, blasted nerve endings!" She hops the remainder of the way and opens the door, it's Luke.

Luke- "Sorry I'm late, I had to follow Liz and TJ to Hartford so they could drop off the truck and…Are you OK?

Lorelai- "Oh ya, just fighting with the furniture again. Nothing amputation can't fix." She says limping back towards the kitchen. Luke takes of his coat and boots and follows her.

Luke- "I forgot about the shovel. But I did bring food." He says holding up the brown bags.

Lorelai- "Why don't you go back and grab the shovel while I serve up the food?"

Luke- "Maybe tomorrow, I just took off my boots and I'm really hungry."

Lorelai- "See, vicious circle." Luke nods and starts pulling the burgers out of the bag. Lorelai grabs some plates out of the cupboard and brings them to the table. Luke grabs some glasses out of the cupboard and goes to the fridge.

Luke- "Do you want orange juice or water?"

Lorelai- "I'm having coffee, but word to the wise, have water because I don't ever remember buying orange juice."

Luke- "Who cleans out your fridge?" He asks looking at the shelves of old take out boxes.

Lorelai- "Well Rory used to bring it to my attention regularly, but now I just wait until the Center for Disease Control comes by. They do a real nice job." She replies refilling her coffee and sitting down.

Luke comes back to the table and sits down. Lorelai notices the papers she was working on and pushes them to the side for him. One of the papers grabs her attention and she puts on her glasses. She quietly reads it and then reaches for her notebook again.

Luke- "What are you working on there?"

Lorelai- "Oh, we finished the stable last week so the horses we bought will be arriving tomorrow…at 7:00am…on a Sunday! I am just double checking that everything is ready to go." She grabs her burger and takes a bite. "Wow this burger tastes even better than usual." She says with her mouth full.

Luke- "TJ made them. I guess he used to work in a restaurant a couple years ago." He says shrugging. "He's offered to work at the diner for free while their staying here as repayment for the apartment."

Lorelai- "Oh, well that's nice of him. Hey, maybe you will actually be able to take a vacation or something."

Luke- "I'm not very good at vacations, look what happened last time." He says biting into his turkey burger.

Lorelai- "Oh Luke, look on the bright side, what are the chances of you getting married and divorced on your next trip. Pretty slim I'd say." Luke just nods in response. Lorelai can tell he doesn't want to talk about it so she goes back to reading the paper in her hand. After a few seconds she exclaims, "Oh, no!"

Luke- "What?" he asks trying to see what she is reading.

Lorelai- "The guy we hired to look after the horses can't start until Friday! I totally forgot about that." She says putting down the paper. She thinks for a minute. "It's OK, I'll just have to do it until then. What's one more thing on my list."

Luke- "You're gonna look after the horses? Really, I think we can find someone more qualified…maybe Kirk!" he says laughing at her.

Lorelai- "I'll have you know that as a kid I used to spend a lot of my time in the Gilmore Stables. I had my own horse, Princess, and I would follow the stable guy around all the time and help him with the horses. It was better than being at home."

Luke puts down his burger and stares at her for a minute. Lorelai looks up and notices Luke staring at her, "What?!" she asks.

Luke- "I just can't picture that. Lorelai Gilmore, the lady who loses a caged bird, responsible for feeding and cleaning up after horses." Luke kind of chuckles, "You're gonna have to stop by that shovel store for sure now!" he finishes with a big smile.

Lorelai- "Keep it up big guy, I know you can get the next few days off, so you might be next on my recruiting list!"

Luke- "Well, I'll have you know that I also know a thing or two about horses. My dad and I used to have a couple and we would ride them up to our cabin every weekend to go fishing."

Lorelai- "So are you volunteering to help?" she asks batting her eyelashes. "Only until Friday." She clasps her hands together as if praying him to say yes.

Luke stares at her silent for a few minutes knowing he was going to give in before answering, "Ya, I guess I could. But I'm not doing it by myself." He quickly adds to the sentence, pointing his finger at her. Lorelai throws her hands in the air and replies, "Don't worry, I would never think of leaving you alone with Desdemona and Cletus."

Luke- "Who?"

Lorelai- "The horses, keep up man!"

They finish eating their burgers and Luke gets up to clear the plates.

Lorelai- "Just leave them in the sink. I'll wash them before I go to bed." She says as Luke starts to run the water.

Luke- "I can wash them, I don't mind."

Lorelai- "No, I like washing dishes. It gives me time to process all my thoughts before I go to bed."

Luke shrugs, "Whatever. Hey, do you mind if I turn on the TV for a bit? I just want to see the final scores in a couple of the hockey games."

Lorelai- "Hey make yourself at home, I still got a couple things to do here anyway." She says spreading out her papers again. Luke heads into the living room.

After an hour or so Luke gets up and heads back into the kitchen where Lorelai is still reading over a bunch of stuff.

Luke- "I'm gonna go to bed. You should too if we have to be at the inn by 7:00." Lorelai looks up at him. It hits him, Damn she looks good! She now has her hair pulled up into a messy ponytail, a pencil tucked behind her ear and has her glasses sitting half way down her nose.

Lorelai- "Ya, soon, I just got a couple more things here, then I'll do the dishes and go to bed. See ya in the morning."

Luke- "I'll have coffee ready at 6:00." He says before he heads to Rory's old room. He hears her groan at the thought and closes the door. After changing into his pajamas he lays down in the bed. He can hear Lorelai talking to Rory on the phone and the sound of dishes being put away. He feels strangely at peace and falls asleep.


	6. Crappy Day

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters

6:15 am

Lorelai looks at her alarm clock and lets out a groan. She gets up, steps into her fuzzy slippers and heads downstairs to make some coffee. Half way down the stairs she smells bacon cooking. She gets to the kitchen and sees Luke at the stove frying eggs and bacon. He looks like he's been up for hours. The toaster pops and he quickly grabs the toast and butters it. Lorelai notices that coffee is made and goes over to grab a cup. Luke sees her then, "Good morning! I was gonna give you 5 more minutes then I was gonna come wake you up." He says to her smiling and loads up a plate of food for her.

"I was fighting with my snooze button. What's all this?" she asks referring to the breakfast.

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." He replies.

"Where did you get the food, cause I know for a fact it wasn't here yesterday?" she asks, taking her plate and sitting down at the table.

Luke shrugs, "I had to go to the diner to show TJ how to open and figured I'd grab some stuff." He grabs his plate and joins her at the table. Lorelai notices Luke take a big drink out of his glass of orange juice and grimaces, "Oh man, I hope that's not the orange juice you found in the fridge."

Luke finishes swallowing and puts down the glass, "No it's not. I emptied your fridge this morning and put some real food in there." Lorelai gives him a funny look then gets up to investigate the fridge. She opens it up to find it full of stuff: orange juice, milk, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sliced meat, salad dressing, eggs, and jam. "Luke you didn't have to do this." She says returning to the table.

"I did it for two reasons, one: you had absolutely nothing to eat here." He says.

Lorelai interrupts, "That's not true, there is a brand new box of pop tarts in the cupboard. Anyway it gives me a reason to come visit you everyday." Luke can't tell if she's kidding or serious so he ignores the comment and goes on to say, "And number two…." He pauses for a moment "…I was hoping if I bribed you with food that you would let me stay here another night. Liz invited a bunch of her old school friends over for dinner tonight and I know they'll be up for hours laughing and bugging me about stuff that happened years ago. I would just rather be here, if that's OK. Just one more night?"

"That's up to you, but I warn you, I promised Sookie that I would baby-sit for her tonight." She replies looking at Luke for a reaction.

"That's fine. It can't be worse than being there while my sister and her friends flip through year books and ask me which of them I liked the most." He rolls his eyes and turns his focus back to his plate. Lorelai giggles, while trying to picture Luke being bombarded by a bunch of girls. They finish breakfast and Luke cleans up while Lorelai gets ready to go to the stables.

On the way out Lorelai reaches for her Jeep keys and Luke asks, "Do you wanna just take my truck, I threw some horse brushes, pitchforks, bridles, saddles and some other stuff in the back already."

Lorelai looks at him, "Aw Luke…"

Luke cuts her off, "It was just stuff that was taking up space in my already cramped apartment, so really you'd be doing me a favor if you took it." He finishes trying to sound like 'grumpy Luke'. "You don't have to take it if you don't want it."

Lorelai knew that this stuff must have belonged to his father and probably still meant a lot to Luke so she said, "I promise I'll take good care of it, and I'll give it back as soon as I get some of my own stuff." Luke nodded and headed to the truck. Lorelai followed, but stopped when she reached the bottom step. The walkway was shoveled! "Exactly what time do you get up in the morning?"

Luke just laughs and gets into the truck.

By the time they got the horses settled in to their new homes and put away all the stuff Luke had brought it was almost noon. Luke emerged from the stable to see Lorelai leaning against his truck talking on her cell phone. He could overhear part of the conversation:

"So, you're not coming over tomorrow night?…I know you've been working on that client for a while, but I haven't seen you in two weeks…Uh huh… no tonight isn't good for me, I've already got plans…no I can't change them…Jason you don't even return my calls half the time…whatever, look I'm at work right now and don't really want to get into this here, so I guess I'll see you Wednesday at that zoo thing….What do you mean you're not going! You're the only reason I agreed to it in the first place!…Look, just forget about it, I always come second with you and to be quite honest I can't anymore, it's just not my style….No!…Jason….Enough!…It was fun but that's all it ever was…I guess I just want more than that….ya, that's what I'm saying…"

Luke tries to casually keep his distance by busying himself at the back of the truck. He notices Lorelai's voice start to shake a little and resists the urge to go over to her. He decides to let her finish in private and walks back into the stable. Lorelai, still on the phone says,

"Hey, I'll still see you at my parent's place every once in a while, right…Don't be sorry, you knew this wouldn't last didn't you….ya…I'll see you sometime…Bye Jason." Lorelai hangs up the phone. She just leans against the truck for a minute staring at her phone. What just happened there? Still a little shaken, she takes a deep breath and decides to go into the inn. She figures she might as well see how everything's going while she's here, plus it would give her something else to think about.

Tom, the contractor, sees Lorelai come in and rushes over to talk to her. As he gets closer to her he can tell she's been in the barn all morning, "Wow, you smell like crap!"

Lorelai gives him a weak smile. "I smell how I feel, Tom."

"Havin' a bad day? Well I hate to jump in your nightmare while it's warm, but…"

Lorelai crosses her arms, "Every time you say 'but' it costs me money."

Tom shifts his feet a bit, "…BUT, the lumber we used to do the downstairs entrance and kitchen has been discontinued from our supplier. So we can either order it from somewhere else, where we don't get discount…"

Lorelai nods, "Which will be expensive."

"…or we can redo the entrance and kitchen with different lumber to match the rest of the place, but that'll set us back a couple weeks."

"Which will be expensive." She rubs her forehead and stares at her feet, "Can I get back to you tomorrow Tom? I just have a lot on my mind right now, and I'd like to sit down and look at the numbers first." Tom quickly jots down the type of wood, measurements and prices on a piece of paper and hands it to her.

He knows how much stress Lorelai has been under lately and says, "It's Sunday today anyway, so I won't have my guys here until tomorrow. If you need more time I'll find something else for them to work on for the day."

Lorelai gives Tom a grateful smile and says good-bye before heading back outside. Luke is tidying up some stuff around the truck when Lorelai reaches him.

"Hey Luke, are you ready to go?" she asks in a distracted voice.

"Ya, I was just waiting for you. You o.k.?" He noticed she looked really frazzled.

"Sure. I just want to go home and have a nice long bath." She sighs.

"I saw Tom go in there, I'm assuming not good news?" he asks tentatively as he rounds the truck to get in the driver's side. Lorelai gets in the passenger side before answering. "Is anything your contractor has to say on a Sunday good?" She explains the problem with the lumber to Luke on the drive back to the house.

Once they get inside the house Lorelai says, "I'll talk to Sookie when she comes over tonight, maybe she'll be o.k. with the kitchen and the entrance not matching the rest of the inn. Then we won't have to change anything!" Still wearing her boots and jacket she slumps down onto the couch. Luke walks around to stand in front of her. She looked completely defeated.

"Well I used to know this lumber guy that my dad dealt with a lot. I'm sure I still have his number at home. I could call him today and see if he can get what you're looking for at a reasonable price." Lorelai looks up at him with the first genuine smile he'd seen in hours.

"Could you really?" Lorelai stands up. "You would be saving me from an early breakdown. Here," she says pulling a piece of paper from her pocket, "this is the kind of lumber we're looking for, and there are the sizes and amounts and everything." She explained excitedly.

"I can't promise anything." Luke says putting his hands up in front of him. He didn't want to get her hopes up just in case it didn't work out.

Lorelai suddenly wraps her arms around his waist. Luke's hands are still up and he slowly brings them down to place them on her back. They stay like this for a minute or so until Lorelai steps back. She looks up at Luke and notices kind of an awkward expression on his face. "Sorry, Luke. It's just been a really rough day and that was the first good news I had heard."

Well at least you didn't cry, right?" Luke says trying to lighten the mood. Lorelai nods and then looks at Luke again, this time it feels different though. Lorelai's heart skips a beat as Luke just looks at her for a moment.

Luke had a sudden urge to give her a kiss. His stomach tightened up at the thought and instead he just cleared his throat. "Well I'm gonna run home, have a shower and see how TJ's doin." His mind was saying 'Get out now before you do something stupid!'

Lorelai was looking at her feet now, her face felt red, like she was blushing. Her mind was saying 'Wow. What the hell was that?!' She watched Luke walk back to the door.

Before leaving he turns and says, "I'll give that guy with the wood a call too."

Lorelai gives a little chuckle, "You said 'guy with the wood'.

Luke walks through the door as he answers, "Yes…yes I did." Then he was gone.


	7. Babies Don't Bite

Chapter 7 Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

Around 5:00 Sookie and Jackson stopped by to drop off Davey. They told Lorelai that they would try to be back by 11:00. They gave her the number where they could be reached, a diaper bag, and a list of emergency contact numbers in case anything happened. After spending about twenty minutes saying good-bye to Davey in baby talk, they left.

Lorelai picked up Davey. He was wide-awake and smiling. "Well aren't you adorable. How would you like to come with your auntie Lorelai into the kitchen and make some coffee?" As they head into the kitchen Lorelai hears Rory come in.

"Mom, I'm home." Rory hollers.

"We're in the kitchen."

Rory sets down her overnight bag and heads into the kitchen. She sees her mom holding Davey in one hand and making coffee with the other. Lorelai looks up "Hey Babe. How was Lane's?"

"It was fine. We finished setting up her room then went out and bought a bunch of stuff like plates, cutlery, shower curtain, and so on. Then we went back to make dinner and realized we had forgot to buy pots and pans so we just ate beefaroni cold from the can." Rory walks over to the fridge and opens it.

"What is all this stuff? And where are the leftovers?" Rory sounds stunned.

Lorelai finishes with the coffee and sits down with Davey at the table. "Luke is staying here for a bit while Liz and TJ get settled in his place, and he decided to clean the fridge."

"Luke's staying here? Well that would explain the shoveled walk." Rory says grabbing some strawberries out of the fridge and sitting back down at the table. "I saw him today at the diner and he didn't mention anything. Oh, but I am supposed to tell you that he found the lumber for the inn and he'll talk to you about it later." Rory pops a strawberry into her mouth.

"Oh, that's great! I didn't tell you about my crappy morning yet did I?" Lorelai told Rory about the lumber at the inn, about having to wake up at 6:00 to feed the horses, and about breaking up with Jason.

"You broke up with Jason? What happened?" asked Rory, "You guys seemed good. I thought you were planning on going together to that thing on Wednesday?"

"Well he kept breaking our dates to do business stuff instead. Even on our dates he would spend most of the time on the phone." Lorelai sighs, "You know me, I could only take that for so long."

"I am surprised you lasted this long. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted though, right?" Rory said.

"Yeah babe, it was."

There was a knock on the door and Lorelai looks at Rory, "You get the door, it's probably Luke, I've got to change Davey's diaper. He smells." Then to Davey, "You smell." She says in a baby voice. Then headed into Rory's room with the diaper bag.

Rory runs over and opens the door. "Hey Luke!"

"Hey Rory. You guys didn't eat yet did you, because I brought some burgers."

"No not yet. We've just been talking about Mom's horrible day. I told her about the lumber thing and she said 'great'. Oh and nice work in the fridge." Rory says holding up a half eaten strawberry. "Keep it up though, and mom will never let you leave." With that Rory heads back to the kitchen. Luke takes off his coat and boots and follows her.

"Hey Luke." Lorelai calls him from Rory's room.

Luke peeks his head in and sees her changing the baby's diaper. "Aw geez, I have to sleep in here tonight." He says when the smell hits him. "That kid sure packs a punch doesn't he?" he says walking closer. He had never really spent a lot of time around babies and was strangely curious about the little guy. He looks over Lorelai's shoulder. Davey sees him and a big grin flashes over his face and he starts to kick.

"I think he likes you." Says Lorelai. Luke blushes and stands up straight. "I brought burgers, I'll go dish them up." He walks back to the kitchen. Lorelai finishes up with Davey and brings him out and places him in his rocking seat.

After supper Lorelai and Rory grab a coffee and return to the table. Luke clears the table and puts the dishes in the sink. "I'll wash them tonight. You'll be busy enough with him." He says gesturing to the sleeping baby.

"No really Luke, I'll do it. You've done enough around here already." She says getting up.

"I'm used to working all day, plus it'll give me something to do until Sports Center starts." He says glancing at the clock. "And Rory's here, you guys can visit for a bit before she has to leave."

Lorelai returns to the table, "Well thanks Luke, I'm gonna owe you so big." She smiles at Luke and he smiles back before turning around and running the water in the sink.

Rory looks at her mom, "Oh, you guys are like an old married couple. Fighting over who gets to do the dishes." She notices her mom blush a little, and hears Luke drop a plate into the sink. She smiles, but quickly changes the subject before making them too uncomfortable. "So now who are you gonna take to grandma's party on Wednesday? I would go with you but I've got to do a review for the paper that night."

"I hadn't even thought about that. Maybe I'll just skip it. It's not like I'm donating anything to the monkey motel, I mean zoo." Lorelai looks into her coffe cup waiting for Rory's reply.

"You know that grandma will hold that over your head every week until you die if you don't go." Rory liked the way her mother and grandmother had been getting along lately and didn't want this to set them back again. "Well what about that Clayton Reid guy grandma was talking about on Friday? She said he's young, single, rich, and is in town for a couple weeks visiting his sister. He looked pretty good in his picture in the Forbes magazine."

Lorelai paused for a minute, "I met him once, just before we moved here. He was going to be at my coming out party and wanted to give me his phone number in advance. Mind you, he didn't know I was pregnant. I don't know, he seemed like a nice guy then, but that was almost twenty years ago."

Luke hated this conversation! And he hated Clayton Reid! She couldn't seriously be considering taking some rich ass-clown that she met twenty years ago to this party. He would probably spend the whole night talking about himself and all his money!

Lorelai continued, "Now he'd probably spend the whole night talking about himself."

Luke smiled, there you go.

Rory looks at her mom, "Well, it's an option. You're gonna have to take someone." Both girls take a quiet sip from their coffees. Luke drops a spoon into the sink and breaks the silence. Rory looks over at him, "Hey Luke, why don't you go with mom! There's no dancing, no schmoosing, all you have to do is wear a suit and fill the seat beside her."

Luke turns around, "I hate suits."

Rory turns back to Lorelai, "Well I tried. Anyway call me later if you figure something out." She gets up and kisses her mom on the cheek. "I gotta get heading back. I've got an early class tomorrow." She picks up her coffee mug and takes it over to Luke, "Take care of my mom for me." Then she leans up and kises Luke on the cheek as well. Lorelai smiles as Luke blushes and says good-bye to Rory.

Lorelai sits quietly at the table and finishes drinking her coffee. She looks down at the sleeping baby and says to Luke, "I going to have a bath while the baby is sleeping. Do you mind? I'll only be like fifteen minutes." Luke drains the water from the sink and flips the towel over his shoulder. He turns around and nervously looks at the baby. "What if he wakes up?"

Lorelai sees how scared he looks and giggles, "He won't bite you Luke. If he wakes up just pick him up and call me, I'll come right down." Luke still looks a little unsure about it but nods anyway. "Fifteen minutes?"

Lorelai heads out of the kitchen, she looks back before climbing the stairs and sees Luke standing there staring at the baby like it was going to explode or something. "Hey, Sports Center is on. Don't wory, you'll be fine." Luke nods then heads into the living room and turns on the TV. It comes on a little loud and he instantly looks into the kitchen to see if it woke the baby. It didn't but he decides to turn it down anyway. He can hear Lorelai running the water upstairs. He reasuures himself, only fifteen minutes then leans back to watch TV.

TBC


	8. The Natural

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters

Lorelai comes down the stairs in her jogging pants and T-shirt, drying her hair. She can hear Luke talking to someone.

"Now that's what we call a cheap shot." The statement is followed by a gurgling noise. " There are also hip-checks, and cross checks. I'll explain those to you later." More gurgling.

Lorelai looks down and sees that Davey is sitting on his knee. Luke holds the baby steady against his stomach with one hand and holds a beer in his other. Both of them are staring at the TV. Luke looks up when he notices Lorelai. "I thought you said fifteen minutes." He looks at his watch. "That was more like an hour."

She continues down the stairs. "You could have called me. Anyway you look like you're doing fine." She smiles and sits down beside them on the couch. "I didn't even hear him cry."

Luke completely focused on the TV replies, "Well he didn't cry. I just noticed he was awake and I felt rude for leaving him in the kitchen, so I went and picked him up." He turns his head towards Lorelai. "He is the lightest thing. I thought I was gonna crush him."

"Well good thing you didn't. I don't think Sookie would appreciate it." She leans over and plays with the baby's hand while saying in baby talk, "Mommy wouldn't like that would she, no, she wouldn't. Are you hungry, huh." She asks the baby as he tries to pull her finger into his mouth. She looks at Luke who is staring at her.

"You smell good." He says.

"Uh. Thanks." She giggles nervously, "New shampoo." He keeps staring at her. Lorelai gets little butterflies in her stomach and gets up. "I'm gonna heat up a bottle for him." Luke looks back at the TV, and says "Yeah, that's a good idea." Lorelai gets up and goes to the kitchen.

Luke leans down and whispers to Davey, "Why did you let me say that out loud? Now she thinks I'm weird." Davey just gurgles and kicks his feet. Luke smiles as Davey tries to laugh, making these weird high-pitched sounds. Babies are kind of cool he decides, as long as they're clean and happy. Just as the thought comes out of his head, Davey starts to fuss. Luke bounces his knee a little, but that doesn't work, so he picks him up and places him against his shoulder, patting his back lightly. "Uh, Lorelai?" he calls into the kitchen.

The microwave beeps and Lorelai comes in carrying a baby bottle. "I'm coming, I'm coming." She says in a sing-song voice. "Do you want to feed him?" she asks Luke.

"Uh. I'll let you take this one." He says. Lorelai leans over him to pick up the baby. Her face is only inches from Luke's and she gives him a little look before moving back to her spot on the couch. Luke watches as she cradles the baby in her arms and talks to him as she gives him the bottle. Davey excitedly starts sucking on the bottle. Luke looks at Lorelai, "He eats like you." Lorelai smiles. Luke goes back to watching TV.

Davey polishes off his bottle and Lorelai flips him over her shoulder to burp him. Luke's show ended and he starts flipping through the channels. "Ooh. Go back one!" Lorelai hits him on the arm. "Trading Spaces is on!" Luke flips back the channel.

"What's this?" he asks.

"Well two neighbors switch houses for a couple days and they're given a thousand dollars to fix up one room in each others' house." Lorelai explains. "It's addicting once you've watched it a couple times."

The phone rings. Lorelai hands the baby back to Luke, "Just keep patting his back until he burps." Lorelai jumps up to get the phone.

"Hello."

"Lorelai it's your mother."

She rolls her eyes, "Hi Mom. What's up?"

"I just got off the phone with Jason, he says he can't make it on Wednesday. Please tell me you found a date of your own."

"Not yet mom, but I'm still looking." She looks over at Luke. The baby is fussing a little and Luke moves him so that he is sitting sideways on his knee, facing Lorelai, then continues to pat his back, never taking his eyes off the TV.

Emily continues, "Can't Rory at least come with you?"

"No mom she's got school stuff."

"Well don't worry about it. I'll ask Clayton Reid if he'll go with you."

"Clayton Reid." Lorelai says, she knew his name was going to pop up. She looks up and notices Luke is looking at her. Then the baby starts to fuss, and Luke pulls off his hat and gives it to him to play with.

"You know him Lorelai. We were talking about him on Friday."

Lorelai leans against the wall, she's enjoying watching Luke. He looks like a natural with Davey. "Yeah, mom I know who you're talking about. He asked me out once before Rory was born." The baby drops the hat and starts to fuss again. Luke picks up the hat and puts backwards on Davey's head, then pulls his truck keys out of his pocket and gives them him.

"Well good, he's still single you know? I'm having coffee with his mother tomorrow afternoon, after the D.A.R. meeting, I could give her your number to pass on?" Emily suggests.

Lorelai goes into the kitchen and pulls her digital camera out of one of the drawers. She zooms in on Luke and Davey. "Can I get back to you tomorrow? I'm watching Sookie's baby right now and I think I hear him crying." She lies. **Flash**! Luke looks up at her like she's nuts, she smiles back at him. Just then Davey spits up all over Luke's keys and down the side of his leg. "Oh Luke!" she says pointing at Davey, totally forgetting her mother is still on the other end.

"Luke?" Emily sounds confused.

Lorelai cringes, "What did you say mom?"

"Why did you say 'Oh Luke'? Is he there?" Lorelai watches Luke wipe up the spit with the baby blanket, and seeing that he has it under control, she heads into the kitchen.

"Yes mom, he's helping me look after the baby. That's all."

"Are you two seeing each other? Please tell me the truth Lorelai."

"Maawwm! We're just friends."

"Uh-huh. Put him on the phone." Emily demands.

"What?" Lorelai is confused.

"I said put him on the phone Lorelai."

"Actually he's kind of busy right now, burping the baby. Could I get him to call you back?" Luke looks at Lorelai with a quizzical look. Lorelai gives him a confused shrug.

"Now Lorelai!" Emily shouts.

"Calm down mom, here." She puts her hand over the phone and points it at Luke. "She wants to talk to you?!"

"Me? Why?" Luke asks standing up and trading the baby for the phone. Lorelai shrugs as she puts Davey over her shoulder.

Luke clears his throat. "Hello Mrs. Gilmore." Lorelai stands there bouncing the baby and trying to hear the conversation. But she can only hear Luke's side of it:

"Yes, I am….no, I was here already…I'm just staying for a couple days while my sister and her boyfriend are in my apartment…No! No! I'm sleeping in Rory's old room…I swear…yes?…Wednesday night?… Uh…I don't think I can…but…I hate suits…I really don't think…uh huh…

Lorelai listens intently trying to grasp the conversation but having no luck. Luke keeps looking at her with a panicked expression, but she doesn't know what to do. She starts mouthing the words 'hang up'. Luke nods at her and keeps talking to Emily.

"…Well Mrs. Gilmore I really appreciate you asking me but…who?…Clayton?…Fortune 500?.." Luke scowls a little and looks at the floor.

"…No, I didn't know that…only two hours…Well I'd have to find someone to watch the diner…by tomorrow night?…I'll see what I can do…"

He reaches over and takes his hat off the baby and places it back on his own head. Lorelai is lost. What is her mother saying?

"…I can't promise you right now…ok…tomorrow then…Did you want to speak to your daughter again?"

Lorelai shakes her head dramatically.

"…Oh actually she must have gone upstairs with Davey…uh, that's the baby's name…oh, he's really cute…yeah, he's starting to laugh now…"

Lorelai looks at Luke like he's crazy, and again mouths 'hang up'.

"…I better let you go, Lorelai's calling me…you too…good-bye." And he hangs up the phone.

Lorelai stares at him with her mouth open. "What the hell was that?"

Luke walks over and puts the cordless back on the stand and heads into the kitchen. "I think I'm going to the Zoo thing with you on Wednesday." He says opening the oven and taking out the kettle. "I don't know what happened, it's all a little blurry." He fills up the kettle and puts it on the stove.

"Oh, I'm sorry Luke. I'll call her back and tell her you're busy or something." She says walking back to the phone.

"Lorelai, I told her I'd call her back tomorrow. So just leave it for now." He looks at Davey who is hanging over Lorelai's shoulder. "The kid passed out. I'll put him down if you want?"

Lorelai gently passes him to Luke, who then slowly puts him in his rocking seat and covers him with a blanket. He gets up and goes back to the stove where the kettle has now boiled. "Tea?"

Lorelai goes back to the living room and sits down on the couch, "Sure why not."

Luke brings in two cups of tea, sets one in front of Lorelai then walks around and sits on the other end of the couch. They drink their tea and continue watching Trading Spaces. Every once in a while Luke would say, "I could build that." Or "They should have used…" Lorelai was dozing off by the end of the show. She looked to see how Luke was doing, but he was passed out. His one arm was holding up his head and his other one was thrown over the back of the couch. Lorelai glanced at the clock 10:02. It was still almost an hour before Sookie would be there. She grabbed the remote and started flipping the channels hoping to find something that would keep her awake until then. She stopped on Celebrity Pets; the show always made her giggle. Luke stirred, Lorelai looked at him. He looked uncomfortable so she scooched over to wake him up. She patted him on the chest, "Luke, go to bed."

With his eyes still closed he said, "One more minute." Then pulled her back against his side so that her head rested on his shoulder. Then he dropped his arm around her shoulders, and rested his head against hers. "You smell good." He said before completely falling asleep again. Lorelai froze. She should get up. But he was so warm and she was so tired. Five minutes, then she would get up. Commercials came on the TV and she told herself, 'I'll just close my eyes during the commercial then I'll be fine.' She was asleep within a minute.

!Ding, Dong!

Luke opens his eyes. !Ding!Dong! He looks down and sees Lorelai curled up against his side. He smiles. He gently shakes her, "Lorelai, doorbell."

Lorelai looks up at him all sleepy. "You get it." She wraps her arms around his waist and snuggles into his chest. !Ding!Dong! This time Lorelai realizes where she is and sits back. "Oh I'm sorry, I must have passed out."

Luke gets up, "Yeah, me too." He runs over to the door and opens it. "Sorry guys." He says to Sookie and Jackson, "We both fell asleep on the couch." Lorelai gets up and stands beside him. She invites in Sookie and Jackson. While the guys are discussing the sites of Litchfield, Sookie and Lorelai go in to the kitchen to pack up Davey's things.

Sookie is speaking very casual, "So how was Davey?"

"Oh, no trouble at all." Lorelai replies, "How was the wine festival?"

"Great. So why are you two sleeping together on your couch?" Sookie asks now grinning ear to ear.

"SHHHH!" Lorelai says looking into the living room. "We weren't sleeping _together. _We just happened to fall asleep at the same time on the same piece of furniture, that's all."

"Are you guys on a date or something?" Sookie asks whispering.

"No, Luke is just staying here for bit until he can get his apartment sorted out."

"Ok. Sure. I hope he never sorts it out." With that she picks up the baby seat and the diaper bag and calls Jackson to leave.

As she's walking out the door she calls back over her shoulder, "I'm gonna call you tomorrow, Lorelai. Bye Luke. Thank-you." Jackson says good-bye as well and they leave.

Luke closes the door, then turns around and looks at Lorelai. She can tell she's being watched. She looks up and stares at him for a moment before saying, "Thanks for the help tonight, I really appreciated it." Luke nods and steps closer to her. Lorelai suddenly feels very nervous and tucks her hair behind her one ear. Luke reaches out and tucks some hair behind her other ear. He runs his knuckle down her cheek.

In his one ear he can hear 'Do it! Kiss her!" and in his other ear he can hear, 'What are you doing! Run!'

His heart is pounding so hard in his chest that he is sure that she can hear it.

But Lorelai can't hear anything over her own heartbeat. Oh god! What is he doing?! He just looked at my lips. He's gonna kiss me! Luke is going to kiss me!

Lorelai looks at Luke's lips. That does it for Luke. He leans in and places a feather light kiss on Lorelai's lips. He backs off for a second and realizes that she is breathing just as hard as he is. Then he kisses her again, this time a little longer. Little fireworks go off in his head when Lorelai starts to kiss him back. Luke puts his hands on either side of her face and deepens the kiss. Lorelai grasps the front of his shirt and joins him. Luke hears himself let out a little moan and reluctantly ends the kiss. He rests his forehead against hers for a moment still cupping her face. Once his breathing is under control he leans back and kisses her on the forehead.

Luke watches as Lorelai slowly lifts her eyes up to meet his. He puts his hands in his pockets and sighs, "You better go to bed. We have to be up early again tomorrow."

Lorelai feels lost and confused. "…Luke…?" She can't seem to find the words. Luke walks her to the bottom of the stairs. "Good-night Lorelai." He places another small kiss on her forehead and heads off towards Rory's room. Half way there he looks back and sees Lorelai beginning to slowly climb the stairs.

"Lorelai?" he calls out.

She stops and looks at him, "Uh..Yeah Luke?"

"I'm not sorry." He says.

She smiles back at him, "Neither am I Luke."

Luke smiles, nods and then says, "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." Replies Lorelai.

They go to their separate rooms and try to sleep.


	9. Dreaming

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters…yet.

I would like to thank everyone for their reviews so far, I really appreciate them.

6:00am

Lorelai hears the alarm clock go off and reaches for it from under the covers. All she feels is the surface of the bed stand. Where the hell is the clock? She peeks her head out of the blanket. She spots the alarm clock sitting on a chair just out of reach. Beside the clock is a large cup of coffee and a note that says 'Get Up'. Lorelai stretches out in an attempt to reach the alarm clock without actually having to leave her bed.

Downstairs Luke is making omelets. All of a sudden he hears a quick scream followed by a thud. He chuckles to himself. He grabs some plates and dishes up the omelets as he hears her come down the stairs. She has her blanket wrapped around her shoulders and her coffee cup in hand. She sits down and Luke catches her evil glare but smiles back, "Good Morning!" As he is sliding a plate in front of her she replies flatly, "Die!" the threat is lost though as she cracks a smile.

Luke grabs his own plate and sits down to eat. They make small talk about the horses and what they have to do that morning. All the while Luke is thinking 'she even looks good first thing in the morning'. Lorelai carries on the conversation, but in her head she's thinking, 'I have never seen Luke smile this much. He has really nice lips…I mean teeth'. After breakfast Lorelai gets up to refill her coffee and Luke starts clearing the plates, whistling the whole time. Lorelai is filling her cup when she says, "You're sure chipper this morning."

Luke grabs the plates and walks up really close behind her and whispers, "Yes I am." Then continues whistling as he takes the dishes to the sink. Lorelai gets little shivers down her spine. She turns around and leans against the cupboard. "I wasn't dreaming." It comes out more as a statement to herself than as a question. Luke turns around and sees her face is pink and she's looking at the ground. He walks over to her. "You thought it was a dream?" he asks with a little smile.

Lorelai feels oddly shy and tries to defend herself, "I was really tired last night and it felt so…surreal this morning, that I thought maybe…"

"Well you're definitely awake now," he says lifting her chin with his knuckle and kissing her lips. He kisses her two more times before she finally starts to kiss him back. Luke thought it felt like electricity coursing through him. He puts his hands on her waist and pulls her closer.

Lorelai can hardly think at all. 'God he's a good kisser.' She reaches up and wraps her arms around his neck so she can deepen the kiss. She can feel Luke squeeze her waist a little. They continue for a couple of minutes before coming up for air. Lorelai leans back and lets her hands slide around until they rest on his chest.

She stares at him for a moment, "Luke Danes." She says as if trying to place the name.

"Lorelai Gilmore." He says smiling. He liked the way she kissed him, and the colour of her eyes, and the taste of her lips, and the feel of her waist, and….

Luke slowly backs up and says to Lorelai, "Uh...you better go get ready now." He needed some fresh _cold_ air. "I'll go start the truck."

Lorelai laughs and nods in agreement, "Ok, I'll be ready in like two minutes."

Luke watches her head upstairs and shouts after her, "Make it ten!"

They get through doing their chores relatively quickly. As Lorelai finishes up, Luke goes inside the inn to tell Tom about the lumber. As soon as he goes inside Lorelai takes out her cell phone and calls Rory.

The voicemail picks up. "Hi Rory, it's mom. How's school? I really need to talk to you. Call me this afternoon if possible. Love you, bye." She hangs up her phone and goes to put it back in her pocket when it rings.

"Hello?"

"Hi Lorelai? It's me Liz. Sorry to call you, Lane gave me the number, is Luke there?"

"He's actually inside talking to Tom right now. Can I take a message?"

"Yeah, sure. Could you remind him that TJ and me have an appointment this afternoon to do a walk-through at our new place? He'll have to watch the diner until we get back, which should be around 5:00."

"Yeah that's no problem. We're almost done here anyway, we should be about twenty minutes or so."

"Cool. Thanks Lorelai. See ya soon."

"Bye Liz."

Luke returns and says, "He'll have the stuff by tomorrow. So today they're going to try and finish most of the kitchen." Lorelai clasps her hands and says, "Sookie will be so happy. Oh, your sister just called. I'm supposed to remind you of her appointment today, and let you know that they'll be back around 5:00."

Luke looks disappointed, "I totally forgot about that. I was going to ask if you wanted to take the horses out for a bit."

Now Lorelai looks disappointed too, "That would've been fun. But we could still do that tomorrow." Luke nods and helps her finish tidying up.

As Lorelai pulls the stable doors shut she gets a splinter in her finger and lets out a string of curses. Luke smiles in shock then comes over and grabs her hand, "Nice language. You kiss your mother with that mouth?" She looks at him nervously as he investigates her wound, "Not recently, No."

After five minutes of wrestling with her to keep still, Luke removes the splinter. "There! Looks like you're gonna need a Band-Aid though." Luke heads back to the truck. "I've got a first aid kit behind the seat, it should have something."

After grabbing the first aid kit Luke comes back to Lorelai, who is now sitting on a hay bail, staring at her finger. "Hey Lorelai, speaking of your mother, remember we have to call her back today." He sees Lorelai roll her eyes. Luke opens the first aid kit. "Why are there Bob the Builder Band-Aids in here?" he says pulling one out. Lorelai giggles, "I totally forgot about that. Me and Rory put them in there months ago."

Luke shakes his head as he puts it on her finger.

Once it's all wrapped up Luke looks at Lorelai and places a kiss on her wound, "All better." He says but doesn't let go of her hand. Lorelai leans forward and says, "Thank-you Luke." Then she places a soft kiss on his lips before leaning back again. Luke smiles and helps her to her feet, "We should get back." Lorelai sighs, "Yeah, I guess we should." Then they hop in the truck and head back to town.


	10. Place your Bets

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

They pulled up in front of Lorelai's place. Luke leans over and gives her a kiss, "I guess I'll see you later?"

Lorelai smiles, "I could grab some movies later, and it's Grab Bag night at Al's. I could pick us up something for supper. If you like?"

Luke nods, "That sounds good. I'll be over around 5:30, when TJ gets back." They look at each other for a minute before Luke says, "I better go."

Lorelai gets out of the truck and waves to Luke as he pulls away. She feels like a giddy teenager.

She turns and heads back towards her house when she hears, "I saw you kissin on Luke there, it's about time Sugar!"

Lorelai freezes, "Oh hey Babette. Uh, we weren't…I mean we were just…" she looks at Babette who is wearing a big grin, then drops her head and gives in defeated, "…could you give me 10 minutes to tell Rory first?"

Babette claps her hands together. "Sure sugar, oh everyone is going to be so happy! Miss Patty, and Kirk, and Andrew, and Taylor, and…" Babette turns and goes back into her house. Lorelai shakes her head, and smiles. Crazy little town.

Why would anyone care that she was going out with Luke? She had brought her other boyfriends to town and it was no big deal. Luke had had girlfriends too, and it was no cause to celebrate. Regardless, she figures she better give Rory a heads up before she reads it in a paper or something. She heads back into the house.

Lorelai dials Rory's number and is happy that she picks up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Rory, it's me."

"Oh, hey mom. You're lucky you caught me, I've got an hour break between classes. What's up?"

"Can't mommy just call to see how her baby is doing?"

"Sure, but you left a message on my phone this morning saying you really had to talk to me."

For some reason Lorelai feels really nervous telling Rory about Luke.

"Oh yeah, I just wanted ask you if you'd seen my black heels anywhere?" She panicked. 'Just tell her' her little voice says.

"The strappy ones or the solid ones?" Rory asks, "Cause I think I remember you throwing out…"

"Luke kissed me!" There, she said it.

Silence.

"Rory?"

"Uh…where?

"On the lips."

"No, I mean where were you?"

"Here, in the house."

"When?"

"Last night, and this morning." Lorelai wonders what Rory is thinking.

"Did you…?"

"No! No, we just kissed…so?"

"I feel like I missed it?" Rory sounds sad.

"What do you mean, missed it?"

"I don't know. I just wish I was there for it."

"I think that would have made things a little awkward, don't you?"

"You know what I mean." Rory pauses for minute. "Mom I'm really happy for you guys."

"Really?" Lorelai feels relieved. "Because if it's too weird you'd tell me, right?"

"It's not weird. Well maybe a little, but we knew it would happen someday, right?"

"What do you mean 'we'?"

"Uh…well there's kind of a pool in town on when you two would get together."

Lorelai's mouth drops open. "What!"

"I'm glad I put my bet back in after I heard Luke broke up with Nicole." Lorelai could tell Rory was smiling. "I had my money on June though."

"How many people are we talking about here?" Lorelai can't believe her ears.

"Not many. Maybe thirty or forty."

"Oh god, I've got to warn Luke. Babette saw us kissing this morning."

"Does this mean we'll get discounts at the diner now?" Rory asks laughing.

"Honey, mommy's gotta let you go."

"Say hi to Luke for me. Love you. I'll call you tonight."

"Ok, bye."

Lorelai dials the number for the diner. Busy. Crap! Lorelai puts on her coat and heads over to the diner. Poor Luke.


	11. Sweet and Creepy

Chapter 11

Disclaimer- I don't own any of these characters

……………………………

Lorelai ran to the diner. She could see a group of people standing in the doorway of Miss Patty's dance studio. One of the people in the group turned around and pointed at her, "Hey, there she is!" The whole group started to run towards her. Lorelai just beat them to the diner. She quickly gets inside and locks the door.

"Luke! We're under attack!" she cries.

"What the hell is going on?" he asks coming around the counter to look out the window. The group of people had made it to the diner, and were starting to bang on the windows.

"Babette saw you kiss me in the truck and I guess that sparked the riot." Lorelai says running around to close all the blinds.

"What?" Luke asks completely confused.

"I tried to call you, but the phone was busy." She finishes closing the blinds and sits down on a stool by the counter to catch her breath.

"Whoa, slow down. Now why exactly are the local nut jobs banging on my windows?" Luke asks starting to get annoyed.

The diner was empty except for a young couple, who were eating their lunch. The guy interrupts Luke, "Um…excuse me Luke? We're kind of freaking out here…um, can we leave now?"

Luke sighs in exasperation, "Yeah Paul, lunch is on the house, but you'll have to go out the back door." Lorelai watches as Luke leads them to the back door. She could hear Luke say, "Come Again" before he closed the door.

He returned to the front and poured a big cup of coffee, sliding it in front of Lorelai. "Ok, now please explain." He said gesturing to the commotion.

Lorelai takes a big swig from her coffee cup then starts, "It seems that everyone is really happy that we're…uh…together…or whatever." She finishes lamely.

Luke looks towards the door where the banging is getting louder. "What do they care if we're seeing each other or not?" Luke asks, starting to get really ticked off.

"Well, I guess there has been a pool going around to see when we would get together." Lorelai braces herself for his reaction.

"What?"

"I SAID I GUESS THERE HAS BEEN A…" she shouts over the noise.

Luke puts his hand up to stop her "I heard you, I was just…"

The banging stops. Silence.

Lorelai grabs Luke's hand, "I saw this once in The Birds, it's a trick so that you'll open the door."

Luke rolls his eyes and walks over to the window. Lorelai whispers, "Don't Luke, they'll peck out our eyes!" Luke shakes his head and peeks outside. "They're gone?!"

"Are you sure?" Lorelai jumps off the stool to see for herself. Luke holds the blinds apart for her so she can see. "Why does this freak me out more than the banging?" she wonders aloud.

Luke snaps the blinds closed and grumbles, "This whole town needs to be committed."

Lorelai turns around so that she's facing Luke, "I don't know, in a way it's kind of sweet."

Luke lifts an eyebrow, "More sweet than creepy?"

Lorelai smiles, "I wouldn't go that far."

Luke smiles back at her, then looks at his feet and sighs, "A pool, huh?"

Lorelai nods, "Even Rory was in on it…She picked June."

Luke looks up at her, "All because of this?" He leans down and kisses her softly.

Lorelai clears her throat, "And because of this." She pulls down on the front of his shirt and kisses him hard. Luke wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her closer.

FLASH! They both look up, shocked. What looks like the entire town, is standing in Taylor's Shoppe staring at them through the glass. Andrew is at the front taking pictures, Miss Patty is waving, and numerous other people are giving thumbs up gestures. They are all smiling.

Lorelai lets her head drop against Luke's chest for a moment and stares back at them before sighing, "Definitely more sweet than creepy." She looks back up at Luke.

He gives her a quick smile then says, "You're all nuts." Lorelai flashes him a big grin and shrugs. Luke lets go of her waist and takes her hand. "Well, are you ready?"

Lorelai takes another glance at the crowd and sighs, "Now or never."

Luke reaches over and unlocks the door.


	12. Escape!

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters

Everyone poured into the diner. Lorelai was met with about a thousand hugs of congratulations. Luke received about five before he inevitably retreated to the kitchen. The crowd hung around the diner talking and sharing Luke and Lorelai stories. After about half an hour Taylor finally asked, "Well who won the pool?" Everybody looked at each other dumbfounded. Miss Patty finally spoke up, "Well I have the log over at the studio, let's go find out." They all poured out of the diner and headed to Miss Patti's.

Lorelai sits down at the counter and hollers to Luke, "The coast is clear! You can come out now."

Luke emerges from the kitchen, "I wasn't hiding, if that's what you were thinking."

"Uh-huh." Lorelai smiles and points at the coffee pot.

"I wasn't!" Luke pours her a coffee and sets it in front of her. "I am at work here. I was working on stuff." He says defensively.

"Oh, really? For half an hour straight?" Lorelai takes a sip of her coffee. "Nobody ordered anything, not even water." She lifts her eyebrows and takes another sip.

"Ok. Fine." Luke braces his arms on the counter in front of him, "Those people scare the crap out of me, all right?!"

Lorelai laughs and places her hand on top of his. "Oh Luke, don't ever change." Luke stares at her for a moment and then leans in for a kiss. The entrance bell jingles and he looks up. He straightens up and quickly pulls his hand back from under hers. Lorelai gives him a weird look and says, "Are they back for more?" as she spins around on the stool she asks, "Ok, so who won?" Her face drops, "Mom!"

Emily had seen Lorelai and Luke through the window on her way in, and the guilty look on Luke's face now confirmed that something was definitely going on here. She gives Lorelai a cocky smile and says, "If I'm interrupting something here, I can leave."

"No, Mrs. Gilmore…we were just…I mean, nothing uh…I've got to finish up in the kitchen." Luke stammers before heading back to the kitchen.

Lorelai quickly reaches over the counter and grabs his arm, "Not this time my friend." Luke looks at Lorelai, then at Emily and then back at Lorelai. He felt like he was a kid who got busted with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Luke, could I please have a cup of peppermint tea? If you have any." Emily asks sitting down beside Lorelai.

"Actually, I was just making some for myself before you got here. I'll be right back." He peels Lorelai's hand off his arm, "I do actually have to go to the kitchen for this." He says to her with a little smile before heading into the kitchen.

"So mom, what brings you here?" Lorelai asks looking down at her coffee cup.

"I thought you said you were just friends." Emily says.

"Mom, please." Lorelai says dropping her head.

"Well I just don't understand why you feel that you can't be honest with me." Emily says in a hurt voice.

"I was being honest with you mom."

"You look like more than 'just friends' to me Lorelai."

Lorelai looks up at the ceiling, "Well, a lot has happened since I talked to you."

Emily looks at Lorelai, "You talked to me last night!"

Lorelai smiles but remains quiet. Emily is trying to understand what her daughter is talking about, when Luke emerges from the kitchen carrying the tea. Emily snaps at him, "What did you do to my daughter?"

Luke freezes then glances at Lorelai. She looks completely amused. He looks back at Emily, "I just kissed her, I swear!" he states, setting down the tea. He looks back at Lorelai and gives her a nervous smile.

"Oh." Emily says flatly. "But this can't be the first time you kissed her?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm pretty sure it was." Luke replies.

Emily turns and looks at Lorelai confused. "You've had a thing for him for years, and you only kissed him now?"

Lorelai can feel the blood drain from her face, then immediately fill back up. "Uh, mom. Why don't we go back to my house now." She gets up and puts on her coat, completely avoiding eye contact with Luke, who is grinning ear to ear.

"But I just got my tea?" Emily says, looking at her daughter like she's nuts.

"Mom!"

"Fine Lorelai. Thanks for the tea Luke. So I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow night then." Emily raises her eyebrows at Luke. He opens his mouth to decline but Emily cuts in first, "It's part of the package I'm afraid. You'll have to get used to it if you plan on dating my daughter."

Luke looks at Lorelai, who is glaring at her mother, then turns back to Emily, "Then I guess I'll be there."

Lorelai looks up at Luke and he smiles back at her. As Emily and Lorelai turn to leave Luke calls out, "Lorelai, don't forget, 5:30."

She turns back, "How could I forget. See you then." She gives him a shy grin and leaves.


	13. Ladies and Gentlemen

Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters

Lorelai and Emily headed back to Lorelai's house. They didn't talk. Lorelai found this completely unnatural and turned to say something. She noticed that her mother was looking at her with a very cocky smile.

"What!?" exclaimed Lorelai.

"Nothing." Replied Emily.

"Mom, just say it."

"Ok. I'm glad to see you're doing alright."

"Are you sure, I mean you don't have anything to say about me seeing the 'diner guy'?"

"Well, we all knew that it was inevitable."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?!" Lorelai says exasperated.

"Oh please Lorelai. You two have practically been in each others' pockets for years."

"Uh…What does that mean?" Lorelai says stopping and turning to face her mother.

"Ask anyone in your town. Did you know that they used to have a bet going on to see when you two would get together?"

Lorelai looked down and rubbed her forehead, "How did you…."

"That Miss Patti told me about a year ago, when I was here visiting you. I think I even put down five dollars." Emily says trying to remember.

Lorelai shakes her head, turns around and starts walking again.

"Oh wait Lorelai. I need to stop at Sookie's on our way home. She was going to give me a recipe."

"When were you talking to Sookie?" asked Lorelai.

"Why? Am I not allowed to talk to her without your permission?"

"No mom, it's just…oh, whatever." She finishes turning towards Sookie's house.

"One of the ladies asked if I knew anyone who had a recipe for duck, and Sookie was the first person who came to mind, so I called her." They kept walking. "And it gave me an excuse to come out here to see you and make sure you were still coming Wednesday night."

"I said I was coming didn't I?" Lorelai says getting a little angry.

"Yes you did." They walk a little farther. "Ok. I talked to you on the phone the other day when Luke was over, and realized that I still feel like an outsider when it comes to your life." Emily says. Lorelai glances at her. For a moment Emily looks really vulnerable, but just as quickly as it comes, it's gone, and Emily lifts up her chin and continues, "You haven't even showed me your inn yet."

"I was going to show you when it was finished. That way you could see the whole package and not just a picture of me running around like a chicken with my head cut off." They turned up Sookie's walk.

"I believe you have it all under control, Lorelai." Emily says as they reach the door.

Lorelai knocks on the door, "Well, maybe we could swing by real quick this afternoon."

Emily smiles at Lorelai, and Lorelai smiles back. Sookie opens the door and looks at them excitedly. "Oh Emily, I just got off the phone with Kirk. I'm supposed to tell you if I see you, that you won!"

Emily looks confused, "I'm sorry?"

"The Luke and Lorelai pool! You won!" she says jumping up and down. She stops jumping and looks at Lorelai. "Don't think I'm not upset that you didn't tell me first." She tries to sound mad, but fails. "Oh come here!" she says giving Lorelai a big hug. "I'm so happy for you two." Then she invites them in.

Emily looks at Lorelai who is smiling at Sookie and says, "I am also happy for you two." Lorelai looks at her mother in shock. Then Emily adds, "Maybe I'll take my winnings and buy your bohemian boyfriend a new suit for Wednesday. He does know that he can't wear flannel, right?" Emily walks ahead of Lorelai into Sookie's. Lorelai drops her head, gestures her in with a dramatic wave of her arm and mumbles, "Ladies and gentlemen, Emily Gilmore." Then enters and closes the door.

After leaving Sookie's, Emily and Lorelai pick up the jeep and go over to the Dragonfly. They walk around and talk about the construction plans and the designs. Emily is quite impressed. On their way back to town Emily turns to Lorelai, "I want to ask you something, but I don't want you to get…the way you get."

"Well with an intro like that mom, I just can't wait to hear the question."

"Do you need any money?" Lorelai starts to get defensive but Emily continues, "It wouldn't be a loan, it would be an investment. There would be no repayments, no bargains, and no strings."

Lorelai looks at her mother. Sometimes she was hard to figure out. "Actually I'm alright now. Luke loaned us some money, and it should be plenty enough to hold us until things pick up."

Emily looks at Lorelai, "Luke?" she has a funny look on her face. "He better not think that just because he lent you money that…"

"No, mom. It's not like that!"

"Well good. He didn't seem like the type, but you never know." They pull up to Lorelai's place and they both get out of the jeep. Lorelai walks Emily to her car.

"Uh…don't you want to come in?" Lorelai asks as Emily pulls out her car keys.

"Maybe another time Lorelai. I've got lunch with the D.A.R. today and you have Luke coming over." Emily gets in her car. "But I'll see you on Wednesday. Say hi to Rory for me if you're talking to her."

"I will. Hey, don't forget to swing by Miss Patti's before you leave, she'll be waiting for you."

Emily smiles and nods before leaving. Lorelai watches her go then heads back to her house. 'She never fails to surprise me.' Lorelai smiled and closed the door.


	14. Family Pictures

Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters

Luke arrived at Lorelai's shortly after 5:00. There was a note taped to the door that said: I'll be back in 5 minutes. Go on in. Lorelai.

Luke went in and put the chocolate cake he brought, on the kitchen table. He felt weird being there without Lorelai. He had been there alone before, but there had always been something to do or fix. He decided to sit at the table and wait for her to return. After about 10 minutes he got bored and started cleaning out his wallet. It was full of receipts and old useless membership cards. At the very back he found some pictures. One was a picture of his parents. One was of his sister and Jess as a little kid, and the last picture was of Lorelai and Rory at Rory's graduation. Luke spread out the contents on the kitchen table and pulled out all the garbage. He got up to throw it in the trash when he heard the door slam open and Lorelai shout, "A little help please!"

Luke quickly dumped the stuff in the trash and went to help. Lorelai had two large bags of take-out, her purse, a couple of movies, four books, and had her cell phone propped up against her ear. Luke quickly grabbed the food and the books from her and she smiled at him as she listened to the person on the phone.

She ended the phone call and followed him into the kitchen, tossing the movies, purse and cell phone on the couch on her way.

"Rory says Hi." Lorelai told Luke before sitting down at the table to undo her boots. Luke was at the counter getting plates and glasses.

"What's she up to today?" asked Luke.

"She had classes all day, so she just got home. She just wanted me to pick up a few of the books she ordered from the library. She also told me that she had 9 messages on her phone from people calling her to tell her about us." Lorelai finished taking off her boots and leaned back in the chair. She glanced at the mess Luke had made on the table. "What's all this?" she asked sifting through the pile.

"Well you were a little longer than five minutes so I decided to clean out my wallet. I'll clean it up." He said walking back to the table.

The little stack of pictures caught Lorelai's eye and she grabbed the m before Luke could clear them away. "Pictures? I just don't see you as a guy who carries pictures in his wallet." She said examining them closer.

"They're just some pictures of my family, can I have them back?" Luke said reaching for them. Lorelai quickly moved them out of reach and continued to stare. "Are these your parents?" she asked looking at Luke. He nodded. Lorelai looked back at the picture, "Your mom was very beautiful."

"I know, now can I please have them back?" he reached for them again, but Lorelai got up and dodged him.

Luke sighed and put his hands on his hips. "Is that Liz and Jess? She was a total hippie! Check out her hair and dress. Strangely it really suits her." Lorelai giggles. "It didn't really suit Jess though did it?" she says flipping it around to show him.

"I've seen it before. He hates that picture." Luke smiled at the picture of Jess with a poncho on, flashing the 'peace' sign at the camera.

Lorelai smiled as she flipped over the picture of her and Rory. "I've never seen this one before, where did you get it?" Luke sees she's distracted and quickly grabs the pictures from her.

"Sookie gave it to me. She said she had tons of them." He said as he put the pictures back in his wallet.

Lorelai was touched as she watched him put the 'family' pictures back in his wallet. "Rory's right you know?"

"What?"

"You ARE a big softy." Lorelai giggled as Luke turned red, mumbled something and went back to stuffing everything on the table back into his wallet.

Lorelai dished up the food she picked up from Al's, and sat back down at the table. Luke filled the glasses with juice and sat down too. "What the hell are we eating?" he asked looking down at his plate.

"It was international grab bag night, so your guess is as good as mine."

Luke poked at his food with the fork then looked up at Lorelai who had already started to dig in, "Do you ever consider the fact that it would be safer to cook your own food at home. At least you know what it is."

"No. I would know what it WAS. The finished product would be a mystery in itself."

They slowly picked away at their meals. Luke was actually surprised to find that whatever it was, didn't taste as bad as it looked. After dinner Luke cleared away the plates and turned to Lorelai. "I brought chocolate cake for dessert."

"Oh.oh" Lorelai said looking pensively at Luke.

"What, oh.oh?"

"You only give me chocolate cake when you have something bad to tell me." Lorelai said eyeing him suspiciously.

"That's not true!" Lorelai lifted her eyebrows at him and he gave in, "Alright. Liz and TJ have plans on Wednesday, it's Caesar's only day off, and Lane can't come in until 5:00." Lorelai didn't say anything so he continued, "I can't find anyone to cover so I don't know if I'll be able to make it to your party." He handed her a piece of the cake.

"Don't worry about it. It wouldn't be your thing anyway." She said taking the cake.

"I should call your mother and let her know."

"Don't call her! She'll try to find me a date." Lorelai stabbed her cake with the fork.

"A date? But she knows you're with me now. Why would she try to set you up?" Luke asked confused.

"Luke, everyone has to be coupled up at these parties, its like Noah's arc or something."

"Really?" Luke silently wrapped up the rest of the cake then turned back to Lorelai. "So what's gonna happen if you show up by yourself?"

"She'll probably scour the room until she finds a guy who came alone and make us sit together." She looked at Luke and noticed he seemed to be scowling. "Hey, its not like I have to marry the guy or anything, I just have to sit there and make boring conversation."

Luke looked back at Lorelai, "I'm sure I can talk Caesar into working."

Lorelai gives Luke a suspicious look. "Don't worry about it."

"No, he owes me one for covering one of his shifts." Luke nodded like it was all coming together in his head.

"Luke, do you not trust me to go alone?" Lorelai asked getting defensive.

"What?" Luke asked confused.

"You seem upset over the thought of me having to sit with someone. It's not like it's the Dating Game or anything. I'm not planning on having a good time."

"That's the reason I want to go. When you tell me about having to go alone, I picture you all dressed up and looking great and sitting miserably at your table having to make conversation with some fat stock broker who smokes cigars and talks about the 'fiscal year'. Luke crouches down in front of Lorelai and takes her hands. "You should have someone to go with."

Lorelai looked back at Luke. "I'm sorry, I was being stupid. Really Luke, if you can't make it I'll be fine."

Luke gives her a quick kiss and gets up, "I'll talk to Caesar tomorrow, but no promises, ok?"

Lorelai nods. "So…" she says changing the subject, "…I brought home some horse movies tonight, to prepare us for riding tomorrow. I got The Horse Whisperer and Black Beauty, your choice." She says getting up and heading to the living room.

"I don't know, the first one I guess." He took his spot on the couch and grabbed the remote.

Lorelai grabbed the movie and put it in the machine. "Turn it to channel 3."

"I know, I know." Luke said flipping through the channels. "Oh hey, it's that trading houses show again." He looked up at Lorelai as she came back to the couch.

She thought it was cute the way he gave her the puppy dog eyes. "Alright we can watch this for a while first." Luke smiled back at her and turned up the TV. Before Lorelai sat down she asked, "Do you want a beer?"

"Yeah sure."

They sat and watched trading spaces for a couple hours before putting in the movie. Lorelai grabbed a blanket out of the closet and snuggled up against Luke's side. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They watched the movie in relative silence until they both drifted off to sleep.


	15. New Sleeping Arrangements

Chapter 15

(Monday night)

Lorelai awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of the TV going off the air. She sat up and reached for the remote and turned off the TV. She looked at Luke asleep and smiled. She decided to get a glass of water while she was up and went to the kitchen. She was being very quiet not to wake Luke. She got the glass and went over to the sink to fill it up. She turned the water on slow and filled up her glass. Just as she was taking her first sip she heard…

"Hey."

"Oh my God!" she choked startled dropping the glass. She looked up at Luke. "Jeez, you scared me to death!" she exclaimed putting her hand over her heart to control the beating.

"I'm sorry." Luke said as he bent down to pick up the broken glass. Lorelai squatted down to help him. "It's Ok, I just didn't hear you get up." Lorelai glanced at Luke and couldn't help but notice how tired he looked. She gave him an empathetic smile and said, "Aw hon, leave it I'll get it." She tried to push his hands away.

"Are you sure?" he asked looking at her. She couldn't help but giggle as she picked up the last piece of glass and put it in the sink. Luke looked confused, "What are you laughing at?" he asked groggily.

She turned to towards him and placed her hand on his cheek. "You look so cute when you're sleepy. Your hair is all messy," she said running her hand through his hair to try to fix it, "and your eyes are all blinky, and..." Luke suddenly pulled her in and kissed her. She was surprised at first but quickly gave in and started kissing him back. When their tongues met she thought her legs were going to buckle. She wrapped her arms around Luke's neck for support.

"And how are my lips?" he asked her breathlessly, before kissing her again. All Lorelai could do was moan. Luke moved his hands up and down her ribcage making Lorelai shiver. Her insides felt like liquid fire.

She broke the kiss for a moment and looked at Luke and said, "Maybe we should move this upstairs?" Luke stared at her hesitantly and said "Only if you're sure." Lorelai tugged at the front of his shirt and slowly led him towards the stairs. They made it to the first landing on the stairs before Luke grabbed her and started kissing her again. Lorelai had to lean back against the wall for support. She started undoing his buttons, and he started moving his hands under her shirt. It felt like an eternity before she got all the buttons undone, but once she had, she pulled his shirt off in record time and threw it down the stairs. Luke looked at her surprised and she laughed at his expression. "So that's how it's gonna be?!" he said and suddenly he had her shirt pulled off and thrown aside as well. It was Lorelai's turn to look a little shocked, and Luke's turn to smile. They both laughed as they made there way up the stairs, leaving a trail of clothes in their wake.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

By morning the blankets were all twisted, the pillows were on the floor, and Luke and Lorelai were tangled up together in the middle of the bed kept warm only by each other and the one sheet that had survived. The sun had been up for hours but neither one of them had shown any sign of waking up yet. Then the phone rang. Luke was the first to surface out of the deep sleep and without thinking reached over and grabbed the phone. "Hello?" he said sleepily.

Silence. "Uh, Luke?" asked the voice.

"Um-hum" he answered.

"Uh hi, it's Sookie, is Lorelai there?" faintly giggling.

"Um, just a second," Luke said disoriented. He looked around and tried to get his bearings. Then he noticed Lorelai sleeping beside him and it all came rushing back to him. He smiled down at her and then looked at the clock, 8:42.He nudged Lorelai, but all she did was mumble. Sookie heard it through the phone and gasped excitedly. Luke picked up the phone again, "Oh sorry Sookie she's sleeping, is she late? We must've slept in. I'll wake her up right away."

"No don't bother!" said Sookie quickly. "Just let her know that the horse guy called and says he can start today. I'll just tell him to come in now.".

"Oh, OK. Thanks Sook."

She giggled nervously, "So,…you two…?"

Luke suddenly became embarrassed and knowing there was no other reason why he would be sleeping beside Lorelai at this time in the morning he chose to remain silent.

Sookie sighed. "Actually Luke, Jackson took Davey for the day and Michel is in town today, so tell Lorelai that she can take the day off. We'll take care of everything today."

"Are you sure?" Luke asked quietly, hoping not to wake Lorelai yet if he didn't have to.

"I'm sure." She paused. "I'm really happy for you two, Luke. You should take the day off too. Just,… I don't know,…enjoy each other."

Luke looked down at Lorelai again and said, "I think you're right, thanks Sookie, I'll tell her you called."

"Oooh! And tell her I'll want details!"

"Sookie!"

"Bye Luke!" then she hung up.

Luke set the phone down and laid back on the bed. Lorelai instantly snuggled up against his side, and threw her arm over his stomach. He tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead before falling back to sleep himself.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

10:48am

Lorelai stretched and inhaled deeply, it smelled like Luke. She smiled and opened her eyes only to see Luke staring right back at her. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up."

Lorelai looked around for the clock, "Why? What time is it?"

"Almost eleven." Luke answered waiting for her reaction.

"What! Oh my god, I'm so late!" she said leaping out of bed completely naked and trying to round up her clothes. She shot a quick glance at Luke and noticed he was propped up on one elbow and smiling ear to ear. "What!" she demanded a little annoyed.

"Sookie called earlier, she said you are to take the day off, her and Michel can handle it. Oh, and the horse guy started today so you don't even have to do that."

"Why didn't you say that before giving me a heart attack?" she asked hitting Luke with her shirt.

He laughed, "And miss this?" he waved his hand in her direction.

Lorelai looked pissed as she pulled her shirt over her head, and stared searching for some more clothes.

"You really shouldn't bother." Said Luke getting up.

"I need my pants, and some coffee!"

"And I need you." Luke said pulling her into a deep kiss. She resisted at first but eventually joined him and deepened the kiss even more. Luke pulled back from the kiss and lifted her shirt back over her head. Lorelai tried to sound threatening, "You know you're taking your life in your own hands when you mess with me before I've had my coffee."

"I'm willing to take my chances." He said before picking her up and carrying her back to bed.


End file.
